Open Investigation II: Old North Church 2019
Performative Invitation. 2 hours
Reciprocity Collaborative
Artist Residency: Old North Church, Boston
November 2018 - November 2019
Lead Artists:
Sue Murad - Interdisciplinary performance artist working with installation and film
Jenna Pollack - Dancer, maker, educator
In collaboration with:
Ilya Vidrin - Dance-maker and collaborative artist
Kristin Barendregt-Ludwig - Social Practice Artist
Black Sheep Ensemble: Nicole DeMaio & Bradley Frizzell
Elijah Mickelson: Video documentation
Project: When walking into a church, one enters an array of expectations. There is a steady negotiation of the personal and communal, the public and private, the past and the present. We are investigating these, and how they manifest in the body, with the premise of this architecture. We developed prompts that are slight alterations of actions, practices, and behaviors traditionally embedded in this space. We’re probing their history and their objectives, extrapolating upon their rhythms and motives, and cultivating a collection of surrealistic interpretations.
Invitation: After 6 months of research and exploration, the Reciprocity Collaborative invited the public into their experimentation. Thirty-five Old North visitors and staff were led through a series of singular, minimal movement prompts. These slight alterations of actions, practices, and behaviors traditionally embedded in the space gave us a chance to experience group choreography after so many months of working as a small team. Afterwards, guests were invited into structured reflection and conversation about their experience.
Participant reflections:
“I think there was again this theme of labor...how labor and prayer, in a very religious sense, interact with each other.”
“It was weird and beautiful and intense and I’m still not sure what it was all about. But I really liked it and felt like there were lights going on, or trying to go on, in my head that had never gone on before.”
“Once you make the choice to follow, how do you work with what’s invisible?”
Reciprocity Collaborative: At the Reciprocity Collaborative, we believe the way to understand reciprocity is through practice. As an organization, we are committed to collaboration, sharing expertise through dialogue in a wide range of disciplines including clinical care, creative technology, social practice, and visual and performing arts.
Our mission is to create broad opportunities for meaningful collaboration. Since 2012, we have been fostering a network of creative professionals who actively make their process of collaboration visible to themselves and others. The creative network is ever-growing, and currently includes musicians, social practice artists, dancers, creative technologists, actors, mechanical engineers, clinical healthcare professionals, visual artists, and cinematographers. Our events continue to develop and evolve, from workshops and lecture-demonstrations to site-specific performances and open format presentations.
See also: Old North ~ Film